Liverpool target transfer fee 40 TIMES star’s value

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 15 Jan 2024 07:23 GMT
• 3 min read

Liverpool are ready to upgrade their goalkeeping options in the summer, with Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson one of the players of Jurgen Klopp.

If a deal is to be struck, though, it requires the Reds to make space in their squad for him, and while first-choice keeper Alisson is absolutely safe at Anfield, it spells back news for backup option Caoimhin Kelleher.

According to The Mirror, Liverpool are willing to allow Kelleher to leave in the summer for a fee in the region of €23.5 million (£20m).

Although a player who has been talked about in high terms for several years, Ireland goalkeeper Kelleher has only featured on 32 occasions for Liverpool over the course of his professional career with the club.

Just seven of these games have come in the Premier League, though he was part of the team that claimed wins over Fulham (4-3) and Sheffield United (2-0) earlier this season.

Kelleher’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) stands at just €0.6m due to this lack of game time, while he has kept only two clean sheets in 11 appearances this term, with the other coming against LASK in the Europa League.

He remains under contract until 2026, so Liverpool are under little pressure to sell, yet it is clear they want to make room in their squad for Sunderland’s Patterson, who has conceded 30 times in 27 outings for the Championship playoff chasers.

Celtic linked with Kelleher transfer

According to The Mirror, Kellerher could become a target for Celtic, where manager Brendan Rodgers, himself a former Liverpool boss, is said to be a long-term admirer of the player.

Celtic, though, will not pay anything close to Liverpool’s valuation of the keeper. The Hoops’ record transfer fee is the €10m they spent on Odsonne Edouard to sign him from PSG in 2018 – a figure eclipsed by Jota thanks only to the sell-on percentage they owed Benfica as the winger moved to the Saudi Pro League.

Indeed, the Parkhead club rarely pay anything more than €6-7m for players now, and following the big-money move for Vasilios Barkas from AEK that proved an abject failure in 2020, they will be reticent to spend a significant sum to display veteran Joe Hart.

Kelleher's highest ETV in his career has been €3.7m, which appears a more realistic transfer fee for Celtic, even if it is unlikely to be one that moves Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, has rejected claims that Kelleher will soon be on the market.

The Liverpool boss told the Cork Echo in December: “We all want Caoimh to make the next step. Some of us have heard rumours and stuff like that, like so we have to let him go and stuff like that. We just can’t. We need a solution for us and we are really happy with Caoimh. But he performs for us on incredibly high levels. He is an exceptional goalkeeper. Yeah, he conceded a few goals where he could have saved if he has more rhythm or he is a bit more lucky.”